The rapid growth of the telecommunications industry has been fueled by the ever increasing need for users to connect with other users, and for satisfying the need to connect and to stay connected using a plurality of devices. For instance, it is not uncommon for a user to be able to be reached at any time using a mobile phone, a pager, a connected personal digital assistant (PDA), or some other mobile device. It is also not uncommon for the same user to carry one or more of these devices at any one time.
As the need to stay connected has increased, a user can now be reached with one of those devices at virtually any place and time and for virtually any reason. For example, a user may be reached for a pre-arranged business call even while the user is on vacation at a remote location. In another example, a traveling salesman may be reached with updated inventory information using the salesman's mobile phone or pager, while the salesman is presenting a business proposal to a client.
While this ability for a user to stay connected and to be reached provides invaluable advantages in many situations, this same ability has created new problems for that user. One such problem is manifested when the user may be giving a sales presentation to a client (such as a PowerPoint™ presentation), only to be interrupted in the middle of his presentation by a family member who would like to inquire about plans for the weekend, or to be interrupted by an instant message from a co-worker with feedback about the client. While the family query may be legitimate and appropriate during a break in the presentation, it certainly would not be appropriate in the middle of the business presentation. In similar fashion, while the co-worker's instant message may be important in some other context, it certainly would not be appropriate within the context of the business presentation. However, if the user was not in the middle of the presentation, but instead was working on a draft of the proposal, then the interruption may be appropriate and may even be welcomed.
Furthermore, while the user is presenting the business proposal, it would be helpful for the family member attempting to reach that user about the weekend plans, if the family member was informed at a later time when the user becomes available to accept calls to discuss those plans, or if the co-worker attempting to instant message with the user was informed at a later time when the user becomes able to communicate.
In another instance, the user who is giving a similar business sales presentation may want to prevent interruptions from all other callers except those from the user's accounting department with new inventory or pricing information.
Current systems allow a user to forward incoming telephone calls to another number while the user is traveling. Other systems allow the user to manually select a telephone profile to inhibit or reduce interruptions. In the case where the user has selected a mobile telephone profile to silence the phone, any attempt to reach the user will go unanswered until the user inspects the phone log for missed calls or resets the profile. Similarly, when a caller, who may have an important message to deliver, attempts to reach a user who has silenced his phone, the caller after several attempts may simply give up attempting to reach the user as his calls go unanswered.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and system for managing communication based on the user's current activities. Furthermore, there is a need for callers and other parties who have attempted to contact the user, to be informed about when it is appropriate to retry the attempt to connect with the user.